Is reading the Bible more often one of your new year’s resolutions? Despite your best intentions, do you struggle with God’s word, or feel guilty that you don’t make more time to do so? Here’s Andy Witherall’s top tips for banishing the shame and getting stuck into the scriptures
Reading a good book is one of my greatest joys. There is nothing like sitting in your favourite chair with a cup of tea in one hand and a great book in another. But there is only one book which claims to give sustenance more important than food itself (see Matthew 4:4). Like many Christians, there have been times that I have struggled to read the Bible. But the New Year is a great time to get to grips with God’s word once again.
Here’s five things that have transformed my own Bible reading.
1. Make Jesus the focus
It is very easy to open the Bible, seeking to know what it might say specifically to our lives and circumstances. When we have a particular concern or need wisdom, the Bible is indeed God’s word to us - the psalmist described it as “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). But the danger comes when we treat it like a self-help manual.
Reading the Bible is like having a conversation. It is about spending time with and getting to know the living God
The Bible is not primarily about us, it is about Jesus. As he once said to a group of Jewish leaders: “These are the very scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39). As we open the Bible, our first question should be: “What does this passage teach me about God? What does it say about his holiness, his awesome power and amazing love? How can I worship him, love him and grow in him through what I read today?”
As we grow in our knowledge of God, we learn to trust him more in all that we go through.
2. Don’t cherry-pick verses
When was the last time you read a book or an email by taking out a single line or a paragraph while ignoring the rest? And yet that is how we often treat the Bible. We forget that each verse has a context, and that the whole thing tells the story of God’s great rescue, of which you and I are a part of. That story can so easily get lost when we focus all our attention on our favourite verses.
There is a time for meditating upon particular verses. But if we do this at the expense of reading all of God’s word, we will miss out on the big picture. Why not choose one book of the Bible this January - perhaps a Gospel - and work through a little bit each day, to see the big picture that God is painting.
3. Don’t worry about time
It is wonderful when we have time to sit for an hour, notebook in hand, and just read the Bible. But life can be busy for many of us and we might struggle to find that amount of time regularly. For me, this was often a source of guilt. I sometimes felt that I was rushing through God’s word - the irony being that, as a result, I would often not read it at all!
Bible reading is not about quantity but quality. It is not about reaching a daily quota but having the heart to spend time with God. If ten or fifteen minutes is all we have, that is still ten or fifteen minutes in the word - and that can make all the difference.
4. Remember to pray
Reading our Bibles is like having a conversation. It is about spending time with and getting to know the living God. As he speaks to us through his word, we should speak to him in prayer.
The danger comes when we treat the Bible like a self-help manual
Before reading the Bible, it is a really helpful practice to still our hearts before God and ask him to speak to us through what we read, to give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
As we close our Bibles, speak with him about what we have read.
5. Share with others
The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to share their Bible reading with other believers (see 1 Corinthians 14:26). We live in an individualistic culture in which we are often trained to think that our Christian walk is all about ‘me and God’. But God has called us to be a family, to encourage one another and spur one another on (see Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25). There is no greater way to encourage each other than sharing a little something that we have read in his word.
These five approaches to Bible study have helped to grow and develop my own Bible reading, and I hope they will encourage you as well.
If I had one final piece of advice, it would be this: do not give up. If you have a discouraging day, week or even month in your Bible reading, the promise remains as true as the day it was written: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
Let’s make 2025 a year in which we walk closely with the Lord.
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